It was just a few years ago that most medicare recipients believed that they would never have a prescription drug plan offered as part of official Medicare. Now though many Medicare Part D recipients have that coverage, but are clueless about which plan provider to choose. This is the case coast to coast. You can find many local programs, like the one in Jackson County, Alabama, where trained professionals will help you sort out what is what and pick a plan based on your needs.

Choosing the best option

By Chasity Brown
The Daily Sentinel

Published November 25, 2008

Medicare’s open-enrollment for Part D began Nov. 15, and local seniors will have several opportunities to meet with trained personnel who can help them decide on their best option.
The Jackson County Council on Aging staff has been trying to help those who have come into their offices seeking assistance individually, but making an appointment is better.

In the end, those of us on Medicare for one reason or another should be grateful that we have this coverage. After Katy has gotten a steady job I will no doubt lose my medicade coverage, but this will remain for me. With any luck one day I will be able to get coverage for all the things that I need and find my mental stability again. of course how sane are any of us when their is a new baby in the house…

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Affordable Health Insurance was one of the biggest issues of yesterday’s election.  While I can always hope for a universal health care system that will leave no one in the cold, I am not holding my breath.  I think the best we can hope for is the economy to turn around and President Obama to get his programs passed.

Health Insurance like it or not is still going to be a major issue for those of us who don’t have an employer.  While I no longer fear that a McCain presidency would cut my disability benefits, I still have to worry that Katy (my wife for those of you who don’t know) will find an employer with benefits we can afford.  It is simply ridiculous the way some employers tout how they provide insurance for their workers.    When the insurance costs on a quarter to a third of a person’s salary and the deductible is an entire paycheck or more for just the single worker no one buys it because they can’t afford it.  It is ridiculous to the extreme.

While I think I am safe for now, I do worry about what other self employed people are going to have to go through.  So to my fellow bloggers, and all other self employed breathren I wish you the best of luck and say search online for some affordable health coverage.

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Post 69 of 100 of Brad’s Tiny World Scribefire Challenge.

Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online : Healthy workers keep business costs low

Healthy workers keep business costs low

A fit workforce is an industrious workforce, but how do employers get employees to adopt healthy habits?

By Michelle Dynes
mdynes@wyomingnews.com

CHEYENNE — Good driving habits, and not healthy lifestyles, earn consumers cheaper insurance coverage.

But it makes sense to encourage people to exercise more and give up tobacco, said Dr. Brent Sherard, director of the Wyoming Department of Health.

The biggest challenge for health advocates is to change human behavior, he said. The biggest challenge for employers is to provide health care when costs continue to rise. Today’s health-care model also shifts costs onto healthy workers.

“The people who are healthy pay the premiums for the people who are not healthy,” Sherard said during a summit on workplace wellness at Little America Hotel and Resort on Thursday.

Healthy habits delay the onset of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. It also reduces the need for medical care, along with health-care costs, he added.

“Reach the Summit: Building a Healthy Wyoming Workforce” is the first time business and industry leaders were asked to learn about the importance of worksite wellness, said Joe Grandpre, chronic disease epidemiologist for the state Department of Health.

In 2002, the average employer paid $18,618 per worker for health care. But programs to promote workplace health cut costs and absenteeism. Early detection screenings catch problems when they are cheaper to treat, he said.

Other solutions such as health savings accounts and wellness incentives also encourage employees to take more responsibility, said Dr. Wendy Lynch, vice president of strategic development for Human Capital Management Services in Cheyenne.

“Who pays for health care?” she said. “You do. Do you want it to come out of your taxes or out of your wages? That is the choice you are offered.”

Patients who cover a higher percentage of the final bill are more likely to keep themselves healthy. Lynch said patients with free health care have 70 percent more doctor visits and 30 percent more hospitalizations than the average patient. Their care also costs 45 percent more.

But free care does not lead to healthier patients. Consumers with low deductibles and nonexistent co-payments also accumulate high medical bills.

“We use (coverage) to our advantage and don’t worry about it because someone else is paying,” she added. “If (employees) share the responsibility, they will think about what they have to lose. That is not a bad thing.”

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Post 67 of 100 of Brad’s Tiny World Scribefire Challenge.
Taking Care of People - The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

Editor, News-Register:

Fifty-four million Americans - roughly one in six - personally experience some form of disability and as the war continues the number of the disabled increases. These are people who want to live the American dream but live every day with some form of health issue that makes their life more difficult than the average American. Every day is filled with hard work and road blocks to achieve what others take for granted. Disabled working-age Americans are three times more likely to live below the poverty line.

Seventeen years after Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), many of our fellow Americans with disabilities still do not have an equal opportunity to fulfill the American dream.

As the parent of an intelligent, articulate child who is in a wheelchair most days, I can tell you it is very difficult. If you can just walk into a building without planning “how” to get in, you are very fortunate. Before my daughter became ill I would have told you that all the buildings are handicap accessible - now I will tell you many of them are not. Before, I would have said people will help - now I have found many people do not help. It’s very common for people to watch us struggle in public without ever asking if they can do anything to assist.

All these societal issues, coupled with the current lack of social services can be overwhelming. While working on the Obama campaign I have talked to many people who can not get the medication and medical equipment they need to take care of themselves. How is it that disabled Americans cannot get wheelchairs and shower seats? And what about our young? How will they get medical insurance when they are deemed to have pre-existing medical conditions?

Sen. Obama’s plan for disabled Americans includes four parts that will empower the disabled. His plan will: 1. Provide Americans with disabilities the educational opportunities they need to succeed. 2. End discrimination and promote equal opportunity. 3. Increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities. 4. Support independent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities. His full plan is outlined on www.barackobama.com.

Anyone can have an accident or a sudden medical condition. We have to change the system so that EVERYONE has access to the American dream! Sen. Obama has a plan that includes all of “us.” Not just those of us who can afford it.

I urge all disabled Americans, caregivers and friends of disabled Americans to unite to elect officials who will support help for those who need it. We are strong people, but together we are unbeatable! YOU ARE IMPORTANT! Vote for Barack Obama for president and let them know you want a government that takes care of its people!

Bobbi Taylor

Wheeling

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Post 58 of 100 of Brad’s Tiny World Scribefire Challenge.

High School Sports: BE’s James a player with a cause

By ALEX PELLEGRINO
Special to The Post and Courier
Friday, October 17, 2008

Mary Crawford James is a junior middle hitter on the Bishops volleyball team and a forward/center in basketball.

Provided

Mary Crawford James is a junior middle hitter on the Bishops volleyball team and a forward/center in basketball.

Donny James clearly remembers his daughter’s initial reaction to the chilling news: His sister had lost her battle with breast cancer.

“I want to be the person who finds a cure for that,” Mary Crawford James said to her father back when she was in middle school.

James, now a junior volleyball/basketball player and honor roll student for Bishop England, already had a perfect idea of how to help. Instead of collecting candy at Halloween, she’d round up donations for the American Cancer Society just as she had done the previous Halloween for a church-related charity. The original idea came on a whim, and though she no longer dresses in costume, James’ tradition continues in memory of her aunt, Kathy James Miller, and several others.

Most recently, a rare form of tissue cancer claimed the life of her childhood friend and basketball teammate while breast cancer took a former middle school teacher.

One of James’ neighbors is a breast cancer survivor, and a family friend is currently battling the disease.

“Cancer has been a big part of my life,” said James, who has also donated 12 inches of her hair to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for cancer patients. “I wanted to do something different and help people.”

Before heading out on Halloween night, James distributes flyers to her neighbors with the details of her story and efforts. She makes sure they know she’s grateful for every contribution, whether it’s a penny or a $20 bill.

“She just gives so much,” her father said. “She brings chill bumps to me. She’s always been so articulate.”

Her neighbors’ responses have been overwhelmingly positive. So far she’s raised more than $2,000 for cancer research. Last year she collected a record $800.

“I hear a lot of stories,” said James, the Berkley Co-Op October Student of the Month. “People thank me for what I’m doing and tell their stories. So many people have been affected in so many ways.”

After James departs for college, she hopes her younger sister will keep the tradition alive.

“She’s a really hard-working girl,” Bishop England athletic director and girls basketball coach Paul Runey said. “Mary Crawford always cares about other people and always wears a smile.

“She seems to be there whenever someone needs her, but she’s also a true competitor. She’s that all-American kid who comes from a great family.”

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Post 57 of 100 of Brad’s Tiny World Scribefire Challenge.

RI Central

Members of the South Kingstown girls soccer team take the field Tuesday night during the teams “Pink Out” for breast cancer awareness. The event was sponsored in part by the Gloria Gemma Foundation. South beat Mt.Hope, 2-0.

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A new study comparing the Atkins diet, a Mediterranean diet and a low-fat diet published on July 17 inThe New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), is likely to inspire headlines saying that the Atkins diet is better for your waistline and your health than a low-fat diet.

For years now the “low fat gurus” have been screaming bloody murder about alleged claims that “low carb high fat” diets not only work, but for many people work better. As someone who just got fatter and had their diabetes get worse on a “low fat” low calorie” diet, then started losing weight and getting their blood sugar under control, and had my total cholesterol drop with a significant improvement of good to bad while on a low carb diet, i can tell you it certainly works better for me.
I am no where close to where I want to be, but I will get their. I don’t have to be a diet guru to know these facts from my own life.

• My low fat diet was this: 1800 calorie a day diet that was planned out from a nutritionist and approved of whole heartedly by my doctor, then weighed, measured, and eaten according to plan took me from 240 pounds with a total cholesterol of 220 and an LDL (Bad) cholesterol level of 170. My average daily blood sugar was 140.
• I stayed on the diet to the letter from June of 2003 to May 2005. I went from 240 pounds to 295 pounds my total cholesterol went to 260 and my LDL went to 200. My average blood sugar went to 190. For those that don’t know this is pretty damned high and especially dangerous to those of us without insurance.
• On The Fuck It Diet where you eat what ever you want because you don’t really care or can’t afford to do differently I went as high 350 pounds. Cholesterol went to 270 and average blood sugar on and off meds went to 200.
• Since May of this year on a straight forward low card diet without expensive food, vitamins, or feeling like I was going to starve to death I have dropped to 300 pounds, have enough energy to exercise, dropped my total cholesterol to 220 with my LDL 180 and this mornings fasting blood sugar was 98.

While these are no doubt good results and will differ from person to person I am sick and tired of being told this doesn’t work. The good news is there is a new long term study out saying it does work wonders.Then we hear from the detractors for example.

Dr. Dean Ornish MD: “as a lead investigator on numerous peer-reviewed studies of low-fat diets, and the author of several books about the benefits of healthy low-fat lifestyles, I believe this study is extremely flawed.”

At least he can admit he knows the new information is bad for his reputation as “low fat guru”. Others over the years were clearly wrong about the benefits too. My former doctor despite the comparative results and hard data still doesn’t believe I am eating healthier. She and her fat ass can have their plain baked potato with tiny portions of anything that tastes good, I will take a thick juicy steak or bacon and eggs every day for breakfast over her diet any day. Oh I miss the carbs and indulge from time to time, but I go back to my diet of choice and continue to lose.

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Weeding Out The Highs Of Medical Marijuana

ScienceDaily (July 15, 2008) — Research exploring new ways of exploiting the full medicinal uses of cannabis while avoiding unwanted side-effects will be presented to pharmacologists on July 15 by scientists attending the Federation of European Pharmacological Societies Congress, EPHAR 2008.

For a second time today I am posting a pot related story, which only goes to prove that any smoking I might have done in my youth has not hampered my long term productivity or ambition. There is a down side to too much pot for sure. There is a down side to almost anything we put in our body in excessive quantities. From cannabis to carbs, pot to protein, THC to trans fat, they all have down sides. The government funds and encourages hundreds of studies a year to the tune of billions of dollars to tell us over and over again junk food, lack of exercise, not believing in god, not believing the president is god, or the economy isn’t that bad because people aren’t jumping out of skyscrapers on the account of their electric bill. What the US government refuses to spend money on is pot might have some beneficial effects.

I am not talking about legalizing it, even though I think that is a good idea too. I talking about just pure clinical research to back up the claims that pot has a benefits besides that happy feeling you get before grim creeper sets in. We have lots of anecdotal evidence from many medicinal users. We have studies done in other countries with respectable medical credentials. What we refuse to do is allow clinical experimentation, the development of medications that don’t have to be smoked, or even admit the real reasons it was banned in the first place.

Why do we still not accept their might be some benefit to it? The so far right that they are fringe elements of the extremely radical left would have a field day with it. If pot might have some benefit, they would have to let go of the very old notion that it was bad and accept they banned it because it was preferred by minorities to the bastion of American economics, tobacco. They might also have to accept J. Edgar Hoover wanted it banned so he could arrest and harass more “subversives” who admittedly preferred it for its non medicinal uses.

What evidence do they base this ban on? The evidence that always gets brought up as the gold standard by the anti-pot crowd was done in the 1970’s. They put a rat in box, piped in huge quantities of pot smoke. When the rat was dead they declared pot is bad, and had a dead rat as evidence to back it up. Of course the necropsy didn’t reveal any sort of poisoning from the pot, it showed the rat died of suffocation. When you lock a living creature in a box and then replace the breathable air with smoke suffocation is a forgone conclusion. That study was rigged to prove a predetermined government position, just like the few that have been done since to counter Canadian, European, and Japanese studies that all show benefits of pot.

Whether we are still kowtowing to big tobacco or just pandering to the fear mongers the evidence does exist that marijuana has beneficial effects does exist. We don’t have to stick our head into a cloud of smoke simply to pull our head out of the sands, so we might as well let the truth present itself for what it is worth.

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Out man in Havana is certainly going to take on a new meaning with the latest medical news form the island nation. Yahoo and The AP are reporting that Cuba is soon to be offering free sex change operations for qualifying citizens. Yes, you have heard that right free sex change operations.

It is not the sex change operations that I am really interested in out of Cuba. It is great news for those who are wanting one I suppose, but simply put it isn’t for me, I like the convenience standing to pee. My wife might have something to say about it too if I were interested. What I am interested in is how a country our government who balks at the notion of providing affordable healthcare much less universal free healthcare can call Cuba evil, malicious, harmful, destructive, backwards, counterproductive?

I understand how a country that prides itself on social equality (even if those equals don’t have very much), universal healthcare, and a commitment to public education might be called un-American. I also understand that those things should not be considered antithetical to our national prerogatives.

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Do you as a person have a right to healthcare? If it is a right, then it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that you get it. If healthcare is a mere privilege, does the government have the legal right to manage how much it costs? If it is a right of the people, what is the difference between healthcare and elective medical treatment? If healthcare is simply a privilege when does it become the financial responsibility of a family to keep a child or the elderly alive?

I have been thinking on this a lot and I am simply not sure anymore. On one hand I want to believe we have a right to healthcare, but I have always held there comes a time when healthcare costs should be shifted back to families keeping someone alive simple because they don’t want them to die. I don’t often find myself in a morally grey area, but for the moment that is exactly where I am at.

To make matters even more murky if healthcare is a basic human right and the government of Myanmar is keeping outsiders from providing it, does another country have the right to invade it to set things right? Does inadequate healthcare constitute a human rights violation?

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts…

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